Wasteful Lives
by AlphaMale45
Summary: The Capital Wasteland was finally at peace. James' mission a success, and the Wanderer, still wandering. His war is still not over. He is looking. He wont be at peace until he finds what he is looking for. The problem? He has no idea what he is looking for, whether it is an object, or, something inside him. Or, even inside someone else. Maybe he will never find it. M for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

**Yo. My second story, and if your reading my first one, I'm still working on it, and I will put equal amounts of work into both, cause I have no life. Actually, I do have a life. A part time job and school, it's jut all my friend were seniors last year, and they all moved away, leaving me, a simple junior, turned senior, to rot... -tries to hold back the tears- Anywho, I'm really excited about this story, and I hope it turns out well. Ima start off short and sweet, but will have another chapter up within the week, along with another one for 'Why Me?'. Enjoy.**

All I own is the plot, my OC's, and a good ole' hard copy of Fallout 3. Go Bethesda!

"Fuck!"

"Lay down suppressive fire!"

"Mutie heavy, three o'clock!"

"My armors getting' torn to shreds!"

"Mutie reinforcements!"

"Damn! Where's Glade?"

"On his way with a Fat Man!"

"Finally! ETA?"

"Two minutes, Sarah!"

"Damn! We wont last that long!"

"Sarah, behind you!"

Sarah turned around to see a mutie with a Super-sledge charging her. She emptied her laser rifle into it, but it was going berserk, taking the fire like it was getting off on the pain. Vargas turned and unloaded with his Minigun on it, but it jammed twenty rounds in.

"Fuck! Sarah, move!" he yelled.

Sarah was about to to roll behind some sandbags, but something latched onto her legs. She looked down, seeing a Super Mutant she nearly cut in half with her Ripper, minutes ago, with its hands locked onto her legs with a steel grip. She looked up, to see the Mutie with the hammer was meters away.

'So this is it. This is how I die. Fuck. I didn't even find out the Wanderers name. Hell, I never even looked at his face. Damn that helmet of his.' She closed her eyes waiting for her death to come, ready to die honorably, in battle, the only way for a Sentinel to die.

IIIIIIIIII

The Lone Wanderer. He always like that name. It was something Three Dog coined to inspire hope in the Wasteland, but describe him perfectly. He consider himself friendly in nature, helping those that needed it, regardless of his own situation, but he hated being around others. He was awkward around people. He always had been, and his ability to convince people of things suffered from this. So, naturally, he tended to be a loner, never talking much, only saying what was necessary, and preferring to settle things with action.

He walked through the battle-scared area north of the Washington Monument, on the right side of the trenches, toward the Capitol Building, which the Brotherhood recently occupied. After the battle with the Enclave Landcrawler, they realized that they needed an area to fall back to, in case the Enclave returned, in force.

He listened to GNR, with Three Dog rambling on about another one of his recent exploits, not caring if a stray mutie took a pot shot at him, as is T-51b prototype power armor was near indestructible against mutie small arms.

He traveled on to the Capitol Building, wondering how the Pride were holding up, as they were holding the building... barely, reports of mutie and Talon Company attacks since they took the building were rampant. He was concerned, of course, as he considered Sarah a good friend, but knew she could handle herself, so he took his time.

As he neared the war-torn area in front of it, he heard explosions and gunshots.

"Shit!" he yelled, as he took off, sprinting as fast as his armor would allow, unslinging his Carbine that he pulled off of a dead pack brahmin, close to Evergreen Mills, along with an assortment of other weapons not usually found in the Capital Wasteland.

He closed in on the Capitol Building, seeing muties running toward it, converging out of the Museum of Technology. He pulled up his Carbine and started to pick off muties while he was running. As he entered the trenches directly in front of the building, he shouldered the Carbine, and pulled out his dual 9mm pistols, again, that he got of the pack brahmin.

He rushed towards the exit of the trenches, almost reaching them, when a mutie Master droped in front of him with a Supersledge. He stuck his pistols in its mouth and squeezed off a shot from each, killing it almost instantly. As he finally exited the trenched, he felt bullets pinging off his armor on his right side, he looked over to see a Brute with a Minigun firing at him. He emptied his pistols into it, killing it when another mutant, with an assault rifle. He holstered his pistols, pulled out his trench knife, and sprinted towards the mutant. The mutie ran out of ammo, and went to reload, but dropped the clip. It panicked seeing the Wanderer rushing him, dropped it's rifle to, and pulled out a grenade.

The mutie pulled the pin, but the Wanderer tackled him, and the mutie threw the grenade toward two Overlord. They were dead before they realized the grenade was there. The Wanderer rose up, punched the mutant in the face with the spiked knuckles of the trench knife, then slashed its throat. He sheathed the knife, and pulled out his pistols and reloaded them. He advanced up the stairs of the building, seeing the Pride was in trouble, about to be overwhelmed.

He again sprinted toward them, killing any mutant in his way. He was almost there, when he was blindsided by a Brute with Sledgehammer to his back, knocking him to the ground. He was winded , that was for sure, but before the mutant could finish him, he rolled out of the way, barely in time ti dodge the crushing blow by the mutant. He rammed his foot into the shin of the mutie, shattering it, and forcing it to the ground. He twisted around to were he was on his knees, over the mutant's head, and with a roar of rage, ripped its throat out with his bare hands.

He got to his feet to see Sarah, just standing there, with her eyes closed, about to have here head knocked off like a baseball by a Super Mutant. He cried out and sprinted toward her, fearing he would be to late...

IIIIIIIIII

She was ready to die. She accepted that she would die a long time ago, it happened to everybody eventually. She started to pray to... well, what ever was out there, to look after her father, her Pride, and the Wanderer. She knew with how reckless he was, he would need any help he could get.

She waited for a moment more, but not feeling her head being pounded off, cracked an eye, just to see the Wanderer, both hands griping the Supersledge in front of him. He pushed it back towards the Master, forcing it to struggle against him. The Master was out matched, though. Everyone in the Wasteland knew of the Wanderer's strength. It matched that of a Super Mutant Overlord, meaning the Master was already out matched, but fit him in the best power armor ever produced, and the master might as well be a newborn infant.

The hammer was forced into the muties chest, and the Wanderer then lifted him into the air, and smashed him into the ground, with the head of the Supersledge impacting its head, killing it instantly. The Wanderer turned to face Sarah, his eyes hidden behind his helmet.


	2. Aftermath?

**Hey all! How was the first chapter? I know it was short, but so is this one. So sorry. I hit writers block after finishing this chapter, which was going to be longer, but i reviewed it, and it seemed a suitable chapter. So i want to clarify one thing. The Wanderer's name wont come up until at least chapter 4, and his facial features chapter 5. I do this because, A) i like to reveal features as a story progresses, and B)... im not going of any of my F3 characters, so im havin to come up with somethin completely new. Anyways, ill have chapter three done by Sept. 23, maybe before, and it will have some length to it, and a bit o action. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Same Old, Same Old. I don't own shit.**

She stared at his 'face', about to thank him, but before she could, he turned back around, and walked to the nearest Minigun. He picked it up, and started to mow down mutants before they could reach the top of the stairs. Sarah wasn't to be left out, as she reloaded her rifle, killed the mutant holding on to her, and joined in the slaughter. Glade arrived not a minute later, and started to rain nuclear fire on the muties.

After about ten more minutes of intense fighting, the muties began to retreat. The Pride began to regroup, before the Wanderer approached Sarah, livid.

"Why the fuck were you just standing there? Were you just going to stand there and die? Where you just going to leave behind your father, the Pride, and everything else behind without a fight? You should be ashamed of yourself, Lyons! I thought you had more fortitude than that!"

She was shocked, to say the least. She had never heard him say that much... ever, let alone in one go. He talked less than Gallows!

" I-I couldn't move. A mutie had a hold of my legs," she said, looking down at her feet.

"And you couldn't shoot it?"

"I ran out my clip," she said, almost in a whisper.

"You couldn't reload? You couldn't stab it in its arms, you couldn't duck, turn, squat, anything?" he yelled. "You were just going to stand there and die?"

"I..." she never felt so ashamed in her life. She had never fucked up so bad. Now the Wanderer was pissed at her. She felt tears running down her face.

As this was happening, the rest of the Pride's jaws would have been on the ground, if not for their helmets. No one, not even her father, had this much influence on Sarah. She was crying. She never cried. But that was how it was with her when it came to the Wanderer. After they took the Purifier and turned it on, it was like she lived for him, yet he paid no more attention to her after wards than he did the rest of them. Every time he even nodded hello to her, it was like she had been given a gift from God, and she didn't realize that she was like this.

He saw the tears on her face. 'Fuck. I didn't want her to cry.' He walked over to her and put his arms around her. Her head leaned against his shoulder plate.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you Sarah. I was just worried. Please don't cry," he whispered, holding her tightly.

She started to sob violently. He tightened his arms around her shoulders, and they just stood there like that for several minutes, her releasing her emotions into his shoulder, salty tears running down her face like the Potomac River, the Pride just watching. Sarah finally regained her composure, and the Wanderer released her. She dried her face before saying,

"Thank you. For saving me. Us. We would have been goners without you," she said, her voice shaky, her eyes still down cast. He simply nodded. She turned to the Pride, and yelled "Men! Start cleaning up the bodies, fill in one of the entrance trenches with them, give them less options for coming in. those who are wounded, administer proper medical treatment then get to work!"

"Yes Ma'am!" they shouted in unison. Kodiak was the only one injured, and it was just a graze wound from where a mutie Master's bullet tore through a soft spot in his armor.

"Dusk!" Sarah called for the sniper.

"Ma'am!"

"Get to a vantage point and survey the area for more uglies!"

"Yes Ma'am!" she took off to fulfill her orders.

When Sarah and the Wanderer were alone, she lead him to the entrance of the Capitol Building, leaned against the front door, and slid to the ground, exhausted.

"I... I... I can't believe you had to save me. I have never had to be saved before. Never. I hate being the damsel in distress! I'm not some object to be fretted over! You didn't have to save me! I could have died honorably, at least!" she started to rant.

He was confused. Didn't she just thank him for saving her? Now she was pissed at him! What happened in that span of two minutes?

"I don't... understand. Why are you mad at me for saving you now, when you just thanked me for saving you?" he said tentatively.

"You'll never understand," said Gallows, almost scaring the Wanderer out of his armor.

'How is he so quiet in that armor?' both Sarah and the Wanderer questioned.

"What do you mean I'll never understand?"

"She is the most commanding woman I have ever met. She hates having things done for her. If someone opened a door for her, she would smash their face in with it. Like I said, you'll never understand," he stated in that mysterious voice of his. With that he just walked off to finish helping the others.

"Why was he... never mind," Sarah pondered out loud. She slowly got to her feet, and looked the Wanderer in the eye, which was a bit of a challenge, considering he had his eyes behind a helmet, and was a good eight inches taller than her, standing at an impressive six foot six stature in his armor, and stated:

"If you ever save me again, I'll kill you."

The Wanderer just nodded.

**You enjoy? I kinda liked the ending myself. R&R please! -Alpha out.**


	3. Name of the Game

**Hey, sorry for the late update. Hit a titanium wall of writers block at 200 mph... also, got GTA V... :) Anyway, i have a weird way of revealing characteristics of OC's, so bear with it... Enjoy.**

**Don't own Fallout 3, yadda****, yadda, yadda.**

She stared across the small fire at the Wanderer, watching him sharpen his knife, for what seemed the tenth time that night. They were in the main lobby of the Capital Building, just the two of them. Vargas and Kodiak were standing guard outside of the entrance, Dusk found a way on top of the building and was on over watch, and Glade took Colvin and was fortifying a fallback point in the Hall of Columns.

As he slide the whetstone across his blade, she began to get annoyed, so she spoke up,

"Would you stop with the damn knife!" she half yelled at him. He simply raised his head, put his knife back in his sheath, and dropped the whet stone in his sack. Satisfied, she looked down at the brahmin steak she was cooking over the fire. 'Almost done.' After another couple of minutes, she pulled the stakes of the spit she had fashioned out of broken chairs, and slid them onto a few plates. The others could eat when they rotated watches, and Dusk brought canned provisions onto the roof with her.

She picked up a fork and knife, placed it onto a plate, and handed it across the fire to the Wanderer. "Here" she said while doing so. He reluctantly took the plate, and stared at it. Well, at least she thought he stared at it. Its hard to tell with his helmet on.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" she asked while picking up her own plate and utensils. He looked up at her quickly, then looked back down. He placed his plate down and began to undo the hoses connecting his helmet to his armor. After they were off, he unclasped the latches on the neck plate, and began wiggling it off.

Sarah inadvertently gasped. 'I'm finally gonna get to see his face!' she watched on as he pulled it off. Finally, it came free of his head, and he set it to the side. The Wanderer then looked straight into Sarah's eyes with the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. Besides this stunning feature, she was... let down. There was nothing too spectacular other than he had the most handsome face she had ever seen, yet it was rugged still. She had expected the reason he wore his helmet all the time was that he had a giant, face deforming scar, or he was a ghoul, or he was just the ugliest person to ever live! She didn't expect him to look so... 'Dammit, Sarah! Get your head in the game! Quit thinking about how good he looks! Your a Sentinel of the Brotherhood of Steel first, soldier second, Lyons third, and a woman when your dead!'

"Sarah. Your staring," said the Wanderer. She jumped a little at the sound of his voice.

"No, I wasn't!" she yelled at him.

"Whatever."

"Don't act so self-centered! Just because you saved the Wasteland doesn't make you the greatest person to ever walk the land! So what if this is the first time I've seen your face? It's not that great!"

"Okay."

"Would you speak complete sentences? You act like a robot sometimes! In fact, robots act more human than you!"

"Fine."

"Gah!" Sarah picked up her plate, grabbed her fork, stabbed her brahmin steak, and began pulling hunks off of it whole. The Wanderer just slid a chair over, set his plate on it, and ate at a more controlled and civilized pace.

After the finished eating, Sarah was a little curious. She has seen his face, but she still doesn't know his name! She decided to do a little questioning.

"Since I know what you look like, can you tell me your name?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because what?" she was getting angry again.

"Because."

"Grr. I told you my name when we first met! Remember? I saved your sorry ass from two pissed muties!"

"No. You shot one. When I had just ripped its throat out. The other. The same," he stated simply.

Sarah was livid now. "Why wont you tell me your fucking name?" she yelled at him.

"Because."

"Because fucking why?"

"Your pissing me off."

That shocked Sarah. She was pissing him off? He never got angry! Or sad, or happy, or... anything! The only time he got remotely angry was when a particular Super Mutant was being particularly annoying.

"Well, that's to damn bad! I want to know your name, and since your a member of the Pride, I'm your leader, so I command you to tell me your name!"

"Honorary member. I was never in the Brotherhood. So you don't lead me. No one does. That's why I'm the Lone Wanderer."

She sat down in defeat. When had she stood up? She must have when she was in the middle of her argument. She looked down from his tan face. How was it so tan? He always wore his helmet! She looked back up at him, his firm, squared jaw was set in stone.

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

That sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but was really only about forty-five minutes, before the Wanderer spoke up,

"Varland. Ryan Varland."

"What?" Sarah questioned.

"My name."

"Oh... Thanks."

He grunted in acknowledgment. He pulled a book and a pair of reading glasses out of his pack. He set the glasses on his sharp nose, opened the book, and began reading.

IIIIIIIIIIII

Sarah awoke with a start. The Wander- Ryan, was standing over her. When had she fallen asleep?

"Get up. Orders just arrived with reinforcements. Your needed back at the citadel. Glade will take over here."

"Where are the orders?" Ryan handed her a piece of paper with the orders and her fathers signature on it. She looked up at him.

"Alright. Get your thing ready."

"They are."

"Well... wait for me at the entrance. I have to do something real quick," she really had to find a toilet.

Five minutes later, Sarah walked out of the Capital Building. The Wanderer was standing by the door to the right.

"Lets go," she ordered. He grunted. They began their long walk back to the Citadel.

**Did ya like it? R&R please!**


End file.
